Scenic Guides, by Weldon F. Heald. Susanville, California: H. C. Johnson. Price, $1.50 each.

Scenic Guide to Oregon. 100 pages, with photographs and maps. 1951.

Scenic Guide to Nevada. 80 pages with photographs and maps. Revised edition, 1952.

Scenic Guide to Colorado. 100 pages with photographs and maps. 1952.

These are the three most recent publications in this useful and attractive series of paperbound guidebooks to the West. The Nevada guide is a thoroughly revised edition of the first in the series, originally published more than six years ago. With many new illustrations, some in color, it is greatly improved. Guides to Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah are temporarily out of print. New improved editions will be out soon. Guides to Washington, Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana will follow.

For anyone contemplating trips of any sort in our Western states these books will be invaluable. They are suggestive and intriguing to read when planning a trip, and when it is under way, they are compact and easy to carry in the car or even in a pack. Weldon Heald knows every foot of the country he writes about, and he takes the traveller into many unusual and out-of-the-way places. Although points of historical and scenic interest, and opportunities for outdoor recreation, are the chief concern, cities and towns with their notable features are included.

There are several arrangements which simplify the use of the guides. All the major scenic areas and points of interest, including the photographs and maps, are alphabetically arranged. Place names printed in bold-face type indicate cross references on maps and in the text, and there is a good index. Besides the fullsize state map, there are a number of detail maps of regions of special interest. A unique feature in the Nevada guide is a “Travel-Time” map showing the best time of year to visit each part of the state. The Colorado guide informs the rockhound of the many fine gem fields. But most alluring in the Colorado, and in the Oregon guide too, are the descriptions of the mountain areas; how to get to them, and what is to be found there.

Harriet T. Parsons